Typos gone good

I've been known to rant about misspelled words and how much they annoy me. I even posted about it a while back. I do differentiate between digital typos and physical typos, if we can call them that. Misspelling a word in an email or even on a blog post is regrettable, yet understandable. Doing the same on a traffic sign is appalling. Emails get sent by the boatload. They're a casual means of communication. Mistakes happen. Traffic Signs....well, a little more thought should go into them.

So you can imagine how annoyed I was when I read this from Jeff Brooks of the Donor Power Blog:

13. Typos improve fundraising results. I’m sorry, but I can’t prove that. Seriously, I can’t count the number of times we discovered an egregious typo, then waited in horror for donors to voice their wrath and confusion by not responding in droves … only to experience instead an unusually high level of giving. My theory: Once someone finds a typo, she pays a lot more attention — and that dramatically improves the chance she’ll be moved by your message and give.

I don't think you need my editorial advice on this but I'll give it anyways: Don't bank on it! Overwhelmingly, typos send the wrong message about the professionalism of your organization. Take the time to check your work.